Candidates declare intentions for 2014 clerk's race

Published: Monday, August 26, 2013 at 12:07 PM.

Candidate filing for the Clerk of Superior Court race doesn’t begin until February, but three people have already declared that they are in the running, according to information from the Onslow County Board of Elections.

Lisa Brown, Loretta Schippert and Michael Surles have declared their candidacy more than six months in advance. Candidate filing for the race, which will be decided by the May 2014 primary and November 2014 general election, is tentatively slated for Feb. 10 to Feb. 28, according to the Board of Elections.

According to Brown, a registered Republican, she pulled her request-to-retire paperwork in order to be able to run once she heard that current clerk, Bettie Gurganus, would be retiring. Brown said she planned to retire at her 30-year mark in the clerk’s office.

“It’s always been something in my mind, that I’m interested in the position but I never thought I’d have the opportunity … and I just assumed that Bettie would be there forever, and I would never have run against her or any of the prior clerks,” Brown said.

Like Brown, Schippert, a registered Democrat, considered retiring from the clerk’s office; but once Gurganus announced her retirement, she too decided to run for the clerk position instead.

Candidate filing for the Clerk of Superior Court race doesn’t begin until February, but three people have already declared that they are in the running, according to information from the Onslow County Board of Elections.

Lisa Brown, Loretta Schippert and Michael Surles have declared their candidacy more than six months in advance. Candidate filing for the race, which will be decided by the May 2014 primary and November 2014 general election, is tentatively slated for Feb. 10 to Feb. 28, according to the Board of Elections.

According to Brown, a registered Republican, she pulled her request-to-retire paperwork in order to be able to run once she heard that current clerk, Bettie Gurganus, would be retiring. Brown said she planned to retire at her 30-year mark in the clerk’s office.

“It’s always been something in my mind, that I’m interested in the position but I never thought I’d have the opportunity … and I just assumed that Bettie would be there forever, and I would never have run against her or any of the prior clerks,” Brown said.

Like Brown, Schippert, a registered Democrat, considered retiring from the clerk’s office; but once Gurganus announced her retirement, she too decided to run for the clerk position instead.

“I feel like I’m too young to retire totally from working,” Schippert said, explaining that she also would not have run if Gurganus wanted to remain in office.

Surles, a Republican and local attorney, told The Daily News via email that he has felt a “higher calling to pursue political office for some time” and has “given deep, prayerful consideration to this action.” He confirmed with Gurganus that she was retiring before committing to the decision.

He serves as a local attorney in private practice and said that his time as a licensed attorney has allowed him to work in every aspect of the local courts.

Whitehurst said that candidates throwing their hats in already are working to make sure voters recognize their name — and so they can start fundraising.

“It’s going to be a big race, I’m sure, next year; so folks who are really interested can declare that they are going to run for it and start accepting funds for it from people who want to donate to their campaign or spend their money,” said Rose Whitehurst, director of the board of elections.

Whitehurst said that when candidates declare that they are running in advance, as has happened in the Clerk of Superior Court race, it’s for name recognition.

“They’ll look for that on the ballot. Name recognition is basically what they’re after,” she said.

Schippert agreed.

“You kind of have to get your name out there and there were already a couple putting theirs out there so I needed to get mine out there,” she said.

Brown said her previous announcement also played a role.

“I had announced my retirement and then I just felt like I needed go ahead and let everybody know that I had changed my mind on retirement and that this is a position that I’m interested in and go ahead and start gathering support,” she said.

Surles said that he had not yet heard of another candidate wishing to fulfill the “critically important” position and decided to move forward with his decision.

“Once I had made the personal commitment to pursue this office, I did not wish to delay this decision and went ahead and filed my Committee to Elect with the local Board of Elections,” he said via email.

Gurganus, who was appointed to the position in 2004 when Ed Cole retired, said that when she retires she’ll have worked in the office for 48 years and seven months.

She said she is not surprised to see candidates already declaring themselves for the race and said she expects to see even more file come February.

The Clerk of Superior Court is elected to a four-year term and must be a resident of the county in which he or she is elected, according to information on the North Carolina Courts website.

As judge of probate, the clerk has jurisdiction over matters involving the probate of wills and the administration of estates. The clerk presides over many other legal matters including adoptions, incompetency proceedings, condemnation of private lands for public use and foreclosures, according to the website, and the clerk is responsible for all clerical and record-keeping functions of the district and superior court and receives and disburses money collected each year from court fees and fines.

According to North Carolina legislation, the position pays $103,766 annually in counties with a population range of 150,000 to 249,999. Onslow County's estimated population in 2012 was 183,263. Also, in lieu of merit and other raises paid to regular state employees, the clerk receives longevity pay. The longevity pay is 4.8 percent after five years of service, 9.6 percent after 10 years of service, 14.4 percent after 15 years, 19.2 percent after 20 years of service and 24 percent after 25 years of service.

Amanda Hickey is the government reporter at The Daily News. She can be reached at amanda.hickey@jdnews.com.